COLLEGE OF MARIN
ACADEMIC SENATE
MEETING MINUTES FOR APRIL 17, 2008
12:45 – 2:00
Student Service Building, Conference Rooms A & B
Senators Present: Carol Adair, Yolanda Bellisimo, Michael Dougan, Ron Gaiz, Robert Kennedy, Arthur Lutz, , Joe Mueller, Meg Pasquel, Radica Portello, Blaze Woodlief, Derek Wilson
Senators Absent: Ingrid Schreck, Erika Harkins, Patrick Kelly, Sara McKinnon
Guests Rinetta Early, Bernie Blackman.
§ Consent for expenditure for miscellaneous printing supplies and for gifts to retiring faculty.
§ Approved memo/procedure notification on behalf of the Curriculum Committee about updating courses.
§ AP4250 – Probation (conditions of/for student probation) Approved.
§ AP4260 – Prerequisites and Co-requisites brought forward for action on the 24th.
§ Discussion of transfer program review to be continued on April 24.
Minutes
I. Approval and Adoption of the Agenda. Accepted with changes.
The Senate agreed to table to proposed letter to board. Arthur Lutz reminded the group that we have waited three weeks for this letter to be written. Yolanda asked Arthur to send his edits to her and she offered to write the letter this weekend.
II. Reading and Approval of the Minutes April 3, 2008. Accepted with changes.
III. Officers’ Reports
President
§ The Senate approved of a formal resolution to thank Dong Nguyen for his great help in Program Review.
§ The Senate will send out nominations for its yearly “Academic Senate Award” for outstanding staff and faculty members. Arthur Lutz is on record as objecting to such awards since all faculty and staff are equally worthy of attention.
§ Academic Senate Election Ballots go out next Friday, April 25. In the last Senate meeting, (May 15th), the old Senate will validate the outcome of the election and the new Senate will be seated. The new Senate will then elect its officers.
IV. Committee Reports
a. The Curriculum Committee: Derek Wilson reported that the CC reviewed the curriculum section of Program Review and is sending it to IPC. AS must work with CC to make adjustments in the program review template.
b. Academic Standards: Rinetta Early reported that the ASC approved and submitted AP 4250 (Probation) and AP 4260 (Course Repetition) and will send the policies to the Curriculum Committee for a final vetting.
c. Instructional Planning Committee: Yolanda Bellisimo reported that the IPC is meeting next week to collect, distill and prioritize the information from each committee. The IPC report will go on to the Budget Committee. On April 25th the Budget Committee will have a full-day meeting and will, then, send its recommendations to the Board.
At the meeting after that, IPC will look at the global view, reviewing whole reviews and overviews. After forming a picture of the whole college, the IPC can become an advocate for various programs. Also in order to look closely at the college’s strategic initiatives, IPC will sponsor a full day retreat including the Academic Senate, the IPC, the Educational Planning committee and the deans.
V. Consent Agenda
a. The Senate consented to $70 for printing supplies.
b. The Senate consented to Yolanda Bellisimo’s using money from our checking account for key chains as gifts to retiring colleagues.
VI. Action Items
Course Update and Revision Procedure. Memo to faculty:
Yolanda Bellisimo presented a rewrite of the Curriculum Committee’s letter to the faculty
in which the CC alerts the disciplines and departments about courses in need of
updating.
The Senators discussed the intent and tone of the memo. Arthur Lutz argued that the CC
should do no more than inform the chairs if courses are out of date and that the memo should not contain “threatening” language that implies that the CC will recommend
deactivation of any course. As the memo is written, Arthur maintained, it seems as if we
are saying “Update your course or else”. Robert Kennedy insisted that the job of the
Curriculum Committee and of the Academic Senate should be to insure academic excellence and that courses are current. Kennedy insisted that we should alert people that their non-current courses will be deactivated. Derek Wilson contended that
this process is about the students being able to trust that their courses are valid and will
be transferred. Wilson gave examples of courses that were denied transfer or threatened with denial because of out of date course outlines. Right now, he told the Senate, two courses are in doubt at Long Beach because their outlines have not been updated since 1998 and 1999. Joe Mueller questioned why we would want to keep a course that was not transferable. Meg Pasquel added that insuring course currency is simple academic integrity. Pasquel insisted that it is embarrassing for us if we don’t stand up and take our responsibility to keep our courses valid and current.
The Memo/Procedure was passed by the Senate with some wording changes. Arthur Lutz opposed.
b. Proposed District Procedures:
§ Yolanda Bellisimo proposed a new procedure for approving Gold Book policies and procedures since we have 34 policies yet to approve. Yolanda and Renetta will each vet a policy through its requisite committees and deans before bringing it to the Senate. Bernie Blackstone told the Senate that the contract for rewriting the Gold Book has been extended for one year.
§ AP4250 – Probation (conditions of/for student probation) Approved.
§ AP4260 – Prerequisites and Co-requisites Tabled. This policy will be reviewed by the Curriculum Committee and brought forward for action on the 24th.
VII. Discussion
a. Recommendations from Transfer Program Review
Yolanda Bellisimo distributed the “Transfer Program Review: Goals and Recommendations”, a document that came out of the research Robert Kennedy did on the “four houses”. In this document, transfer students are assumed to be those students who are self-identified as transfer students, who are prepared to take transferable courses and who are taking transferable courses. The goal is to help these students succeed and transfer as quickly as possible. Bellisimo and Kennedy said that we must insist that the college allocate resources to accomplish this goal, by scheduling the courses transfer students need and by getting them into the appropriate English and math courses. Arthur Lutz worried that this transfer plan leaves out those students who are taking workforce courses. He insisted that this is a community college, and we should be inclusive instead of exclusive. Carol Adair suggested that the transfer program’s plan was written to aid the transfer students. She suggested that the teachers of the workforce courses and programs use the transfer program review as a model to make recommendations to aid the students in the workforce area. The discussion was moved forward to next week.
Adjournment: 2:00 PM
For questions or information concerning the Academic Senate minutes, please
contact: Carol Adair: carol.adair@marin.edu X7367